Intro: Monday night’s episode of “The Bachelor” was one of the most anticipated episodes of the season: Joey will spend a full 24 hours with each remaining woman.  There is a significant chunk of the date that is not filmed, giving the date more authenticity. But, in typical “The Bachelor” fashion, there’s always drama revolving around these episodes; for example in season 23 when the Bachelor jumped over a fence after one of his top three decided to leave, or in season 26 when the Bachelor told all three of the women he was in love with them, so I was very excited to watch the drama unfold. 

Rachel: The cast is now in Mexico, and the first date of the episodes was with Rachel, but before the date even began, she received a visit from the “Golden Bachelor” contestant Susan. In this episode, before every date, each woman got a talk from a “Golden Bachelor” contestant so they could give them advice on how to handle this challenging week. Rachel confessed to Susan that she was completely in love with Joey, and Susan told Rachel to be open and honest with him. Rachel decided she wanted to listen to Susan’s advice, and then they were off on their date. Rachel and Joey went high diving in a local cenote. 

I usually like adventurous dates, but this late in the season, the dates should be more personal to allow couples to talk more. On adventurous dates, the couples don’t talk and Rachel especially needs that special one-on-one time to open up. Joey and Rachel jumped off multiple ledges into the water at different heights, but once Rachel and Joey jumped off of one of the highest ledges, Rachel hit her jaw on the water and was suddenly injured. A contestant’s belly flopping into water and hurting her jaw was not one of the things on my prediction list for things to happen in this episode. A set medic had to check in on her, and then they both had to go to the hospital. After that, thankfully, she was cleared to go on the dinner and night portion of the date with Joey. 

After Rachel hit her jaw, they should have just rescheduled her date for another day since her whole “date” was just her and Joey sitting in a doctor’s office and that certainly didn’t advance their relationship any further.

On the night portion of the date, Rachel was quite stressed because she hadn’t yet confessed her love to Joey. Rachel shared at dinner that all of her previous serious boyfriends cheated on her, and that’s what makes her scared about opening up. Rachel then broke down in tears as Joey comforted her because she felt like she was playing catch-up with the other women. After all, she hasn’t fully opened up to Joey about how she feels. Joey then called their connection a “slow burn,” and I’m still not sure if that’s a compliment or not. Then, the scene cuts to a confessional filmed the next morning. 

She revealed that she told Joey she was in love with him, but since there were no cameras, we don’t even know Joey’s reaction. I wouldn’t be surprised if Rachel was the one to go home after this week.

Kelsey: It’s time for Kelsey’s date and the “Golden Bachelor” contestant to talk to her is Leslie. Leslie was the runner-up on the “Golden Bachelor” and was very confident that she was going to win Gerry’s heart in the end. Leslie gave Kelsey some pretty awful advice, in my opinion, and told her things along the lines of, “Don’t be confident you’re going to win because there’s a chance you don’t,” and, “Be prepared to get your heart broken because I did.” I’m probably exaggerating a little, but still, that’s not the type of advice you want to hear right before one of your last dates with Joey! 

For their day date, Kelsey and Joey met on a dock to board a yacht. After swimming in the ocean with the sea creatures, Kelsey is thinking about telling Joey that she’s in love with him during the dinner portion of their date. I wanted Kelsey to tell Joey she was in love with him, not because I was rooting for her but because I wanted to see how Joey would react to the news because we couldn’t see his reaction with Rachel. I also just wanted to see his face, because his face is expressive and you can tell exactly what he’s thinking. At the dinner table, Kelsey professed her love for Joey, and with a big smile back, Joey told Kelsey that he was falling in love with her fully and had been for a while. It was a very cute moment. The couple then heads to their suite, and we get to see them make breakfast together in the morning.

Daisy: It’s now Daisy’s turn, and she got a talk from “Golden Bachelor” contestant Sandra. Sandra gave Daisy pretty basic advice that was heard before, like “follow your heart” and “stay positive.” For Daisy and Joey’s date, they rode around the jungle in an ATV cart, again a more adventurous date, which put Kelsey at an advantage because she got the date where it was easiest to converse with Joey as opposed to simply being in his company. 

After their ATV ride, Joey and Daisy sat down in this area outside with a rug and chairs which I thought was cute. At this point, there is a transition to a scene of Kelsey spiraling over Leslie’s advice of “there’s a chance it’s not you,” and by then I was convinced that someone behind the scenes told Leslie to tell Kelsey that to spark unnecessary drama. We must not have seen too much of Daisy and Joey’s day date because the dinner seemed to come pretty quickly. The couple talked about their insecurities, and Daisy shared how thankful she is to have Joey in her life, then Joey dropped the second “I’m falling in love with you” of the episode. Things usually don’t go well when the women find out that the Bachelor told them both that he was falling in love with them, so I hope this doesn’t backfire on Joey. The cameras were then cut, leaving us to wonder how the episode would wrap up.

Cliffhanger: Kelsey’s spiral continues into the next morning; we see a clip of Kelsey saying she’s been thinking about what Leslie said to her for days, and if Joey doesn’t pick her, she doesn’t know how she’ll recover. All I have to say to Kelsey is that you signed up for a show where you’re sharing a man with 30 women, so spiraling over factors that you were well aware of seems absurd. This spiral causes Kelsey to leave a note under Joey’s door that reads, “We need to talk,” and the episode ends with a clip of Joey reading the note anxiously.

Predictions: The next episode of “The Bachelor” is the “Women Tell All” directly into the finale, so because the finale is so soon and there was no rose ceremony tonight, I will make predictions for the rest of the season. I don’t have any predictions for the “Tell All,” but I have a lot for the finale. 

First, I predict that Rachel will go home at the beginning of the final episode, meaning that our top two are Daisy and Kelsey.  All of the previews say that it is one of the most shocking finales yet, and coupled with seeing that clip of Joey crying at the Final Rose Ceremony during the first episode, I think that Kelsey will continue to have a lot of doubts, thinking that Joey will pick Daisy. Perhaps she won’t show up to the Final Rose Ceremony at all, leaving Joey heartbroken. I also predict that “The Bachelorette” will be announced at the After the Final Rose which is the event after the season is filmed, seeing how the Bachelor and the winner are doing and that due to popular demand, Maria will be our newest Bachelorette. I also predict that Joey and Daisy will end up together and that they will still be together at the After the Final Rose show.